Takeoffs & Landings
by shortystylee
Summary: A chance encounter in the Kings Landing airport sets off a string of meetings. ModernAU.


_If you could go anywhere right now  
Where would you go?  
And would you miss me when you get there?_

-The Ataris, "Takeoffs and Landings"

XxXxXxX

Casterly Rock International (CRI)

Kings Landing – Baelor the Blessed International (KLB)

Braavos (BRX)

Slavers Bay Tri-City (AYM)

Winterfell Regional (WFL)

The list was much longer than that and she could name them all. She couldn't remember the last time since she'd started this job that she hadn't spent a week without visiting any number of the airports across Westeros or Essos. She was signed up for the Targaryen Air frequent flyer club and easily made the highest level mileage status after her first year, not even needing to count all the extra miles she got from the credit card that came with the account.

This week she'd been across the Narrow Sea in Pentos, meeting a folk banjo and fiddle duo after one of their local gigs. If the act impressed her enough, she would meet with them again the next day, do a little bit of buttering up in the form of alcohol, dinner, and mentions of signing bonuses. If they were game then she would call back to the office that night to set up the next meeting and have her legal people meet with them, since at this point they normally wouldn't have their own people yet.

This trip also included checking out a speed punk band and catching up with another girl only a few years older than her whom she'd met on her last trip and was not yet convinced of signing.

_Probably afraid of selling out_, she thought, knowing she was right. She'd been doing this long enough now to know which acts would be easy and which would not. This girl, with her mousey brown dreads full of wooden beads, long skirts, and tiny set of bongo drums she carried constantly strapped to the side of a canvas backpack would be difficult. But, gods be good, she had one of those tenor raspy voices of a singer-songwriter who'd seen it all, someone like Janis Joplin, and she hoped this one wasn't a junkie. _She looks at me like I'm the Man though_, she thought, remembering their first meeting. Arya didn't like the way that thought tasted at all. _I don't even dress like The Man!_ It was true, the standard uniform for her was jeans and a t-shirt with the company's logo, which she normally paired with slip-on black Vans and a some sort of blazer.

In the end, she had agreed, at least partially. Arya had met her halfway and invited her out to the offices in Kings Landing to meet some more people, maybe talk to some other artists, see what the atmosphere is like. The music scene was aching for this type of artist and she meant to do whatever she could to give it to them.

This was exactly what she was typing in her report when the loudspeaker came on.

"Ladies and gentleman, we're now starting to make our final descent into Kings Landing Baelor the Blessed International Airport. At this time, please shut down all laptops and other devices such as iPads and tablets..."

_Blah, blah, blah, something about seat backs and tray tables, it's 84F outside and the local time is 11:32am. I could do their jobs better than they could half the time, if only I was tall enough to reach the overhead bins._

She saved her report to USB, shut down her laptop, and returned it to her laptop bag and slid it back under the seat in front of her. Kings Landing was usually her final stop. It didn't necessarily please her, it was too humid in the summer and the people were all rude and in a hurry, but she loved her job and as stubborn as she admitted to be, she was okay with a sacrifice or two.

Today was different. She had a layover at KLB for a little over two hours and then she would be heading back home to Winterfell for just the weekend - her parents 30th wedding anniversary. Her sister Sansa had planned a surprise party and managed to wrangle their siblings together, despite that they were flung to all corners of the continent, as well as everyone who'd ever come into contact in her parents' lifetimes.

They landed. Her seat up front in business class let her off the plane before the majority of the passengers and she had the customs pre-screening for her passport so she didn't have to wait in the long line at immigration. She pretty much knew the officers by name anyways, so they rarely kept her around for long.

Her stomach let loose a loud rumble while she stood in front of the security guard, one of the regulars.

"Think you better get some lunch, Miss Stark," he said, handing her passport back across the counter. "Welcome back to Kings Landing." He smiled, she nodded, and made her way through the tinted sliding door that she knew would lead her out to the main terminal, right between the Indigo coffee place and the Kings Landing Times newspaper, magazine, and snack shop.

She walked straight towards Fossaways, her usual sandwich shop, only to find out that they were all out of the avocado for the sandwich she always got. She thanked the kid behind the counter and walked away, grumbling to herself.

_Plenty of other food here, yea?_ she told herself. Remembering the food court, she walked left and soon found herself standing, completely lost in the menu of some new place called Hot Pie's.

It had a good-sized menu of sandwiches and wraps all made on home-made bread, biscuits, and whatever else, according to the sign and Arya for the life of her could not make a decision. She stood in the empty line chewing on her lip and making a face at the menu._ I hate making choices_, she thought. _I hate menus at new restaurants, and mostly I hate when Fossoways has no damn avocados._

A man's voice brought her out of her thoughts and back to the present.

"Overwhelmed?" It asked.

She turned and looked to her right, but at eye level she was staring straight at his chest, at a dress shirt pulled nicely across muscles. When she looked up, she was equally as pleased. He was attractive, but he didn't seem like he was aware of it or that anyone had ever remarked on it. He looked down at her for a second, deep blue eyes through black hair that was a bit too long and conflicted with his dress pants, button down, businessman-style of dress.

"Yea, menu's a bit confusing," she replied, turning to look back up at the menu board.

"Actually, it's not that bad," the man said, disagreeing with her. "You must not be from Kings Landing though, if you've never been to a Hot Pie's. They're on about every other corner nowadays."

She whipped her head back to him fast enough that she thought she might regret it later. "I'm from Kings Landing! Well, not originally," she added quickly, "but I've lived here for six years."

"You're tellin' me that you've lived in Kings Landing for _six whole years_ and you've not once been to Hot Pie's?" The incredulous tone in his voice was starting to get to her, not to mention the emphasis he'd put on the length of time.

"No, I haven't. Is that a crime? I guess I'm a bit too busy to check out every gods damned sandwich shop in the capital." She took a deep breath. _Why is he smiling at me? Does he think this is funny? I do _not_ think this is funny._ "Are you gonna keep smiling at me or are you gonna tell me what to order? Since you know it so well and all."

He shook his head, gave his suggestion, then walked up to the head of the line and ordered his. She followed him, told the lady the exact same sandwich he'd recommended – roast turkey breast, provolone, pesto, and roasted red peppers on crusty white bread – and waited for it to be made.

She paused for a few seconds to take him in while he told the cashier what type of drink he wanted and paid for his food. Tall, maybe taller than Dad and Robb... shorter than Sandor though. Still really well built, not like any of the other twiggy guys she found herself hanging around. Immediately that Aegon Targaryen guy popped into her head and how she could beat him up in a heartbeat, how she almost had a few times when he'd kept insisting on buying her drinks. There _was_ something familiar about him, but, thinking about it a moment, decided to attribute it to the dark hair. It reminded her of Jon a bit.

She was holding on to her wallet, waiting for the cashier to tell her the total, when he leaned over to her, holding the receipt he'd just been handed.

"I, ugh... I think she rang us up together. Either that or I just ordered a $25 sandwich," he said, his voice just a touch above a whisper.

"What? Are you serious? Crap, I'm sorry." She apologized, much more loudly than he had been. _Aww, shit fuck, this is awkward_. She opened her wallet, looking for some cash and coming up with nothing, save for a couple of Pentoshi banknotes, a concert ticket stub, and a movie ticket from about three years ago.

"No, no, no. You don't have to pay me back."

"Are you sure? I mean, we can just get the lady to -"

"Is something the matter?" The young girl behind the counter asked.

"Well, actually, I think you charged him for my order," Arya replied, not letting him tell her that nothing was wrong.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you not together? You look like you could be, that's all," she shrugged. "Sir, if you just give me the receipt I can sort this all out."

"No, we'll be fine, miss. We actually don't even know each other, but it's alright, really. Thank you for offering though."

"Alright then. Ya know, maybe this is just one of those lucky chance encounters for you two." She nodded and walked away to help the next person coming up in line.

Arya had about half a second to blush awkwardly at her insinuation before he turned to face her. "Well, what do you say? Eat lunch together?" He stood in front of her, held up the bag filled with both their food in one hand and their two plastic bottles of soda in the other, like it was an offering, and he had a grin on his face that made him seem much younger than he probably was.

Normally, she'd say no. Make a scathing joke about how she couldn't believe the cashier thought they were dating. But there was no 'normal' for this case, these sorts of situations don't happen. So, with nothing to go off of, over an hour before the flight would begin boarding, and no actual cash to pay him back, she made the only logical decision that came to her mind.

"Ugh, yea, sure. Why the hell not? I don't make a habit of lunch with strange men but since we're past security I'll assume you've got nothing to hurt me with," she said, smiling, glad to see he was on the  
same like as her humor. "Besides, I've got an hour or so layover, it'll kill some time."

They sat at a table on the outside of the food court, him spreading out their food on the table, and Arya going to find some napkins that were hiding as far away from them as possible. She dropped the stack on the table, and took off the black and white striped blazer, hung it on the back of the chair, then noticed he was staring at her chest.

_Well, that's certainly a change. First one I've met that's wowed by my flat chest in a T-shirt._

"Can I help you?" She smirked, sat down, cocked her head to the side and met his eyes.

"Do you work for House of Black & White? As in _the_ House of Black & White? "

She looked down to her shirt and remembered the company logo embroidered on it, as well as the large logo on her laptop bag.

"This?" she asked, point to the logo. "Yup. Guilty as charged."

"What do you do?" _He's excited, maybe a little star-struck even_, she thought. _Not much to get excited over, especially me. I'm not the one selling out shows at Casterly Stadium. _

"Talent scouting," she answered nonchalantly, as if he'd asked her a mundane question about the weather. "Fly back and forth across the world looking for new acts to sign, watch a lot of free concerts, keep my ear to the ground for the new up-and-coming star, that sorta thing." She was gesturing in circles, still holding her sandwich in one hand.

"Whoa, sounds like a pretty glamorous lifestyle."

"Nah, it's not really. Don't get me wrong, it _is_ gods damn amazing, but I'm constantly in airports, on planes, sleeping in hotels, and I'm not sure of the last time I wasn't jet-lagged. If it wasn't for this damned tether," she said, holding up her smartphone, "then I'm not sure if I'd ever know what day it was. But shit, I love it. I wouldn't give this up for all the sapphires on Tarth."

"You do know that there aren't actually sapphires-"

She let out a loud sigh. "Yes, stupid. It's called a metaphor. All the snow north of the Wall. All the gold under Casterly Rock. All the whores in Lys. Are those a bit more concrete for you?"

"I was just giving you a hard time," he said, flashing a smile.

"Mutual." She returned the smile, not entirely sure why.

"So, how'd someone that looks as young as you get this kind of job? Family ties?"

"No, fuck you very much. I made this and everything I've got myself. And by the way, I'm not that young, I'm 24. But anyways, no, it's not a family thing. I started at Crownlands Tech University, they've got an excellent-"

"Wait, you went to CTU too?" he interrupted excitedly. "I was 2008."

"Hah, yea. Small world, eh? Then I'm sure you know they have an excellent sound recording program?"

"You wanted to work for a recording studio?"

"Yup. Pretty ever since I figured out what music was. Got an internship with Black & White my fall semester of sophomore year and when it was done they offered me a job. I quit CTU and started working. Should've been class of 2012, but I've been working since I was 19... Much to the chagrin of my mother, but there's not enough hours in the day for _that_ particular story," she added with a smile that said she didn't give a crap. "What's your name anyways? I feel as I should know that if I'm gonna sit here and tell you my life story."

He nodded, finished chewing a bite of his sandwich, then reached down into his laptop bag and pulled out a silver business card case with a criss-crossing pattern etched into the top. She watched him slide the top card out and hand it to her across the table.

"Gendry Waters," he said as she took it. She gave it a good look over, noting that it was not a business card that'd been given to him in a box by the HR department at his job. There was no job title, company name, fax line he'd never use. Name, address, phone number, personal website, and email address hosted at said website.

She reached in the pocket of her blazer she'd set on the back of the chair and handed him one of hers.

"Arya Stark," she replied back. "You've gotta tell me what you do now that you know about me... and ya know, your cryptic business card isn't helping any."

"Oh yea, that thing. This is going to sound a little ridiculous, but I'm an artist." Arya couldn't help herself, she rolled her eyes and made a face at him. She supposed he knew what that meant by the way he started to explain. "Well, _sometimes_ I'm an artist. I guess you have to sell your art to be an artist, not just make it. That's what I was at CTU for at least. Now I work at the Westeros National Art Museum, you know, the big white building downtown right by the water? I try to keep some personal business cards on me, just in case anyone is interested in my own work, not the museum's. I work in special collections acquirement, so I guess I'm kinda like you, travelling all over the place, looking for art to introduce to the world, just with a different type of art."

"Wait, wait, I was just there a few weekends back. The special exhibit on the erotic art of the Summer Isles, that wasn't you, was it?" _Now I'm the one getting excited over the other's job_. The thought in itself was amusing.

"You bet your ass it was me! It was a tough job, I'll have you know. Spending five weeks traveling through remote, tiny villages on the Isles, but someone had to do it." He had a smug smile plastered on his face, but she found herself not blaming him for it. It was the same one that her sister Sansa said that Arya made when she had to listen to her talk about her job.

"The adventure sounds amazing. My job very rarely takes me off the beaten path. Not sure I could deal with the heat down there though. Even Dorne gets to be too much for me, hells, most of the time Kings Landing in the summer makes me wish for home."

"So where is home?" he asked, pausing in between bites of the salt and pepper chips he'd gotten along with his sandwich. "I've always been in the capitol. Pretty much the same neighborhood too, at least until I got this job."

"The North, Winterfell. Seems like my family's been up there since the beginning of time."

There wasn't much silence as they finished up their lunch. Despite that she spent most of her time around musicians, something that most people would see as the most interesting and exciting job they could have, Arya really enjoyed talking to Gendry about his work and his travels. She'd never met someone that had the same type of hectic lifestyle who wasn't in the same field as her. She wanted to know what exhibit he's working on currently, his favorite Aegon's conquest era sculptor, and what he thought of the new modern art that was coming out of Asshai. He showed off pictures with his own work, huge metal sculptures that needed their own space in a studio he rented, as well as pictures of him decked out like a National Geographic photographer standing in a fifty person villages speaking to village elders through a translator, holding an elaborately painted vase. In turn, she told him about the couple of bands she'd been working with recently, showed pictures of her with some popular artists, Daenerys Targeryen, a DJ who'd just debuted in Westeros after touring like crazy around Essos for years, and a new metal band she'd found, oddly enough, while on a weekend vacation with her older brother Jon in the Frostfangs.

They'd both finished their lunches a while ago and sat crouched over Arya's phone as she flipped through some pictures from her last trip to Dorne, when her phone let out a loud ringing noise and brought up a calendar app.

"Oh, crap. That's my 'fifteen minutes 'til boarding' reminder... And before you ask, yes, I do need to have one. You'd think all this flying would help, but I'm still shit when it comes to not being late for everything," she explained as she gathered up both their trash then stood up to put on her blazer.

"You won't be late. Come on, I'll walk with you down to your gate." He got up too, pulling his laptop bag over his shoulder and grabbing the handle of his rolling suitcase in his right hand.

"You don't have to do that. You've got a flight to catch too."

"Long layover," he quickly replied. "Stop worrying. Now, which gate?"

She answered and they both made their way out of the food court and down to A35. They made small talk along the way, Arya still thinking it was unbelievable how much she was enjoying their conversation. She wasn't like Sansa. Sure, she could be marginally nice and cordial when it was necessary to get what was needed, from a band or someone that needed more polite conversation than her normal way of talking, for instance. But this wasn't the same. Her sister could have a fifteen minute conversation in the grocery checkout about oranges with the person behind her. _I wonder if this is normal for him, casually paying for people's lunches just to have someone to talk to while you're waiting for your next flight_. KLB is the biggest airport in Westeros, and you probably don't feel any lonelier than when you are here by yourself, surrounded a hundred thousand strangers.

They got to the gate quickly since the walk wasn't terribly long. She stopped abruptly, looking up at the screen behind the desk. Five more minutes and it'd be boarding for Winterfell. She glanced up at him for a second, but neither said anything. _Oh, crap. Deja vu. I know this feeling. This is that gods damned 'we just went out on a date and you're at my front door and it's now awkward' feeling_. It was that feeling she'd had a lot before, especially in high school, with her mother and sister often setting her up on dates that would end with those awkward side hugs and no calls back, thank the gods.

"So..." Arya started, letting her voice drift off.

"So... I, umm, I guess this is your stop. How come you didn't mention you were heading back home? With the way you talked about it, I'd think you'd be pretty excited."

"Oh, I am, it's just -" she started, but was interrupted by the loudspeaker.

_"Targaryen Airline flight number A541 with non-stop service to Winterfell will now begin boarding at Gate A35. We'd like to extend a warm welcome to our First Class and TargCard Platinum, Diamond, and Gold members for early boarding through the Priority lane. Also any passengers that will need extra time..."_

"...well, that's me. And yes, I'm excited to go home, but it's for a big surprise party. Parents' 30th anniversary. My sister set it up and knowing her half the bloody North'll be in attendance," she explained, shaking her head. "Anyways, I guess this is good-bye."

"Yea, I guess so," Gendry said, and Arya noticed that he sounded as unexcited as she felt.

"Hey! Don't sound so upset about it!" She said, smiling and punching him on the arm. Not sure why I did that. "I'm kind of a hassle anyways, especially since you paid for my lunch. And besides, we'll probably run into each other again. Sounds like we both live outta this damned airport anyways, yea?"

"You've got a point there, as pathetic as it sounds." He looked around before meeting her eyes, shifting his messenger bag on his shoulder, before holding out his hand. "I'll see you around then, Arya."

She'd moved to shake his hand as soon as he'd extended it towards her. She had a solid handshake which she was oddly proud of, but the same moment she met his hand was when he said her name, and she found that she liked the way it sounded when he said it. He looked straight at her when he spoke and said her name with a certain amount of purpose. It'd be the first time he'd said it since she'd introduced herself.

She forced herself out of her thoughts, shook his hand, maybe just for a little bit too long. She said goodbye, told him to have a safe flight, and watched him turn to walk away, eventually blending into the crowds of people.

She'd almost wished he could walk down the little walkway to the plane with her, like they used to let her father do when she was little and would fly alone. She most certainly wished that the person in the seat next to her didn't intend on talking to her for any of the flight. _How can some boring conversation with the bigwig business man next to me about his latest PowerPoint web conference meeting, or whatever it was they were always so busy with, possibly compare to the last hour?_

The flight attendant came by, asking each in business class if they wanted a drink before takeout. She ordered a black coffee, put her headphones on, and plugged her phone into the USB port in the armrest to charge, happy for the little perks that being able to buy the nicer seats gave her. She'd closed her eyes and leaned back into the seat, listening to the folksy-poppy acoustic sounds of the Manderly Sisters, one of the first acts she signed, when she felt her phone buzz in her lap.

_Shit, I always forget to turn that off_, she thought. _Probably just the regular Friday email from Jaqen letting the Kings Landing office in on what the Braavos office did all week. A man did always love to brag. _

iMessage from: Unknown

She squinted her eyes at the phone, confused, and keyed her password in.

_Hi, Arya. This is Gendry. Ya know, that guy who just bought you lunch? Anyway, I know we said we would see each other around, but I want to make sure it actually happens. I'll be back through KLB on Monday, BRX on Wednesday, and back to KLB on Friday. Any chances for lunch?_

She smiled. A big, stupid Sansa Stark eating lemon cakes smile, a Theon Greyjoy seeing a pretty girl smile, a Rickon Stark playing with Shaggydog smile. She'd be flying from Winterfell to Kings Landing on Sunday and then for work she was in Braavos all next week, meeting with their offices there. Phone in hand, she quickly tapped out a reply and added his name to her contacts, remembering something that Sansa had said once about always waiting to return a guy's message, something she'd always ignored.

From: Arya Stark

There's always a chance for lunch. Maybe I'll even pay next time. I'll be in Braavos all next week for work. I know a great little place near Ragman's Harbor though.

From: Gendry Waters

It's not The Titan's Daughter, is it?

From: Arya Stark

Yes! Gods, I thought I was the only non-Braavosi to know about that little hole-in-the-wall. Crap, they're making us turn our phones off now.

From: Gendry Waters

That's fine. Enjoy your weekend. I expect to hear all about it at Titan's next week.

She flipped her phone into airplane mode and put it back in her lap, continuing to let it charge, continuing to try and erase the silly grin from her face. _I've gotta get this under control before I see Sansa... or Bran. They both can read me like it's their job. _

She sat back against the chair again, concentrating once more on the music coming through her headphones. Arya enjoyed her time traveling, still always relishing the weekends that she could spend in Winterfell instead of alone in her condo in Kings Landing, but this was one of the first times she was going to be excited for a weekend in Winterfell to be over with.


End file.
